First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing

Amitava Kumar writes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.  His latest novel is called Immigrant, Montana. He was born in Ara, and grew up in the nearby town of Patna, famous for its corruption, crushing poverty and delicious mangoes. Kumar is the author of several books of non-fiction and two novels. He lives in Poughkeepsie, in upstate New York, where he is the Helen D. Lockwood Professor of English at Vassar College. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hannah Tinti is the author of the bestselling novel The Good Thief, which won The Center for Fiction’s first novel prize, and the story collection Animal Crackers, a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elissa Schappell is an American novelist, short-story writer, editor and essayist.  Her latest story collection is called Blueprints for Building Better Girls. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gary Shteyngart is the author of the memoir Little Failure and the novels Super Sad True Love Story, Absurdistan, The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, and Lake Success. His work has been translated into twenty-six languages. Shteyngart lives in New York City and upstate New York. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Francine Prose is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and critic.  Her latest book is an essay collection called What to Read and Why. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kirstin Valdez Quade is an American writer. Her debut short story collection, Night at the Fiestas, received critical praise and won awards. A review in the New York Times labeled her stories "legitimate masterpieces" and called the book a "haunting and beautiful debut story collection." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Mungo Reed was born in London and raised in Gloucestershire, England. He has a master’s in philosophy and politics at the University of Edinburgh and an MFA in creative writing at Syracuse University, where he won the Joyce Carol Oates Award in Fiction. He is the author of the novel, We Begin Our Ascent, and his short stories have appeared in VQR and Gigantic and anthologized in Best of Gigantic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephanie Feldman and Nathaniel Popkin edited Who Will Speak for America?, which includes fiction, essays, photos, cartoons, and poetry from 43 contributing authors. The anthology was compiled just before the 2016 Presidential inaugeration of Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hannah Pittard is the author of four novels. Her most recent, Visible Empire,was an Amazon Editors' Pick for Summer Fiction, an IndieNext List Pick, a New York Times "New and Noteworthy" Selection, an O Magazine Book of Summer, and one of Southern Living's Best New Books of Summer. Her previous novels include Listen to me, The Fates will Find Their Way and Reunion. She directs the MFA program in creative writing at the University of Kentucky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chuck Palahniuk is the author of novels, novellas, graphic novels, journalism, essays, and even a coloring book.  He is best known for his 1996 novel Fight Club.  His new novel is called Adjustment Day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices